Second, out 2012 Accord is made in the U.S.A. and with the trunk empty otherwise I can get two bicycles in it if I put some to protect the bottom bicycle. I can easily fit one in the back set area with the front wheel removed. Our 2004 accord was just a bit tighter but it could do the job too. For an "American" badged car try the new Taurus or one of the Buick platforms based on the European Opals.

Bill

Don't they still have a Saturn mid-size wagon based on the Opel platforms? GM used to use it for Saturn and for the SAAB 9-5 (tears).

Saturn does not exist anymore Roadfan. they went away along with Pontiac, SAAB and Hummer when they restructured GM for the bailout. Sorry, I hated to see them go but their volume wsa low and the overlap of products was killing GM sales.

Bill

"I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me" Philippians 4:13

"We can't control that we have Parkinson's, but we can control how we live with Parkinson's" Davis Phinney

I brought my bike with me, on our Illonois trip, in the Transit. Getting the bike in and out of the Transit is a piece of cake. There is enough room to carry three regular bikes, upright, with more headroom than you can imagine. Ours will hold my bike and my wife's recumbent tadpole trike with room for luggage.

Our 2 1/2 day trip was extremely comfortable and we got 26 to 29 mpg highway (26 was up in the mountains). It also maintained a 65-75 mph speed in the mountains with very little strain on the engine. We are not finished with the modifications we want, but I will post photos in my Bike Carrier thread as I add stuff.

I always happily bought domestic cars until the Big Three abandoned my market, which is a small/mid-size station wagon, preferably based on a sport sedan. My all-time benchmark vehicle is still our 2001 VW Passat wagon, which I am going to keep running just as long as I can. (My wife loves that car even more than I do. The size and configuration fit our needs beautifully, and I do most of my own work, to keep ownership affordable. It does require Tier I gasoline and synthetic oil and is admittedly less reliable than a Toyota, but most of the problems involve rubber parts, such as hoses, gaskets, boots, and seals, and are not that difficult to fix.) If I had to replace it today, I would have few options, none domestic: VW Jetta Sportwagen, Acura TSX Sport Wagon, Prius V, and Audi A4 Avant. If Ford would offer its Fusion or Focus wagon on this side of the Atlantic, I would be very receptive.

I always happily bought domestic cars until the Big Three abandoned my market, which is a small/mid-size station wagon, preferably based on a sport sedan. My all-time benchmark vehicle is still our 2001 VW Passat wagon, which I am going to keep running just as long as I can. (My wife loves that car even more than I do. The size and configuration fit our needs beautifully, and I do most of my own work, to keep ownership affordable. It does require Tier I gasoline and synthetic oil and is admittedly less reliable than a Toyota, but most of the problems involve rubber parts, such as hoses, gaskets, boots, and seals, and are not that difficult to fix.) If I had to replace it today, I would have few options, none domestic: VW Jetta Sportwagen, Acura TSX Sport Wagon, Prius V, and Audi A4 Avant. If Ford would offer its Fusion or Focus wagon on this side of the Atlantic, I would be very receptive.

A fusion wagon would be great but unfortunatly they didn't bring that option over from the mazda 6.

You don't want a foreign brand? Then get a Ford made in Mexico. The Pontiac in the image above came out of a plant that was jointly owned by G.M. and Toyota in Fremont CA, near San Jose. This plant also produced Toyota Corrola's, Geo Prizms, Toyota Tacoma's and Chevy Malibu's. If American jobs are what you are concerned about, would you rather have a Mexican Ford, or an American Toyota? Having said that, I believe, though not 100% sure, the engine in my Pontiac/Toyota was made in Mexico. Most engine manufacturing is done there. The casting process can be pretty dirty, and even though the environmental laws in Mexico are as strict as the ones here, the enforcement is lax, and exceptions are made for the right amount of mordida.

As much as you paid for that Beemer [Mercedies, Audi, Escalade], I'm surprised it didn't come equipped with turn signals.

Saturn does not exist anymore Roadfan. they went away along with Pontiac, SAAB and Hummer when they restructured GM for the bailout. Sorry, I hated to see them go but their volume wsa low and the overlap of products was killing GM sales.

Bill

There was a history of Pontiac's in my family. One older brother had a Catalina, the other had a 1964 Bonneville (one of the first cars with cruise control). I couldn't understand why they would dump Pontiac, but keep Buick, until I discovered that the Regal is the largest selling American made car in China.

As much as you paid for that Beemer [Mercedies, Audi, Escalade], I'm surprised it didn't come equipped with turn signals.

BTW, should the "Big Three" domestic automobile manufacturers be the "Big Two" (Chrysler now being a subsidiary of an Italian company)?

"When man first set woman on two wheels with a pair of pedals, did he know, I wonder, that he had rent the veil of the harem in twain? A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Typewriter Girl, 1899.

"Every so often a bird gets up and flies some place it's drawn to. I don't suppose it could tell you why, but it does it anyway." Ian Hibell, 1934-2008

I looked at a Ford Focus station wagon while at the car wash this morning, that ride has a lot of room in back. Anyone got one to tell us about it and is it still sold in the U.S.? Looked nice, had a top level trim package, too.

Bill

"I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me" Philippians 4:13

"We can't control that we have Parkinson's, but we can control how we live with Parkinson's" Davis Phinney

I looked at a Ford Focus station wagon while at the car wash this morning, that ride has a lot of room in back. Anyone got one to tell us about it and is it still sold in the U.S.? Looked nice, had a top level trim package, too.

Bill

No Focus station wagons made anymore BUT the new Focus hatchbacks look pretty sharp and can be had for around $20K - understand a bike can fit in the rear w/o taking the front wheel off.

Early 2000's Subaru Outback and Forester wagons (mentioned for comparison purposes - these are pretty small cars): both will eaily hold a full sized road, hybrid or mountain bike with front wheel on. No need to remove wheel. Rear seat folded down, but plenty of room for other stuff as well.

I imagine almost any current station wagon type of car you could slide a full sized bike into and close the hatch.

We fold down the rear seat properly (in the subaru, this means pulling the base of the rear seat forward, then fold down the back of the rear seat.) Then use an old blanket in between the bikes.

It's a bit tricky to get the two bikes to 'mate' properly but it can be done. Biggest problem is that I have a rear view mirror and if we don't remember to fold it away properly, mirror gets broken.

My biggest grievance with Subaru is that they are going to stop making the Legacy wagon, and only produce the Outback wagon. Look, I drive many very rocky roads where I live, and I've never needed 8.7 inches of ground clearance. I don't WANT the floor of the cargo space any higher - I'm only five two (at a stretch) and when I'm on my own, manhandling my bike into the back is just doable. Roof rack? Fuggedaboutit. Also, until my mom died this year : ( I routinely took her for drives; we chose the Subaru partly because it was low enough down for her to be able to manage entries and exits without too much difficulty. As we found out, getting a frail 90 something into any kind of utility vehicle, with their high clearances, can be very challenging. (My brother when he came to visit had to lift her into his rented SUV. As I plan to write Subaru, what do you expect people in our situation to do, pole vault the poor elderly into the vehicle? High clearances/floors aren't for everyone.)

But I digress. Our Subaru is given as being assembled in the USA. How much of the components are MADE there, have no idea.

Many if not most components in a car are not made for any car in the USA any longer...haven't been for decades.

Boy Mikey, your pronouncement on the auto industry is going to come as a big surprise to the many tens of thousands of autoworkers and auto component suppliers when they go to work on Monday.

Would I be correct to assume that you have no direct involment in auto industry? Your 'many if not most are not made in the USA' comment is just plain wrong based on my 30 years of selling equipment to hundreds of automotive component plants all over this country. Yes automobile are now fully a 'world' product but LOTS and LOTS of things are still made here for both the domestic and import brands.

No Focus station wagons made anymore BUT the new Focus hatchbacks look pretty sharp and can be had for around $20K - understand a bike can fit in the rear w/o taking the front wheel off.

I have a 2006 Focus wagon (the last year they sold 'em, I believe). It's a great, roomy and thrifty little ride, highly coveted on the used market since you can't buy a new one in North America.
That being said, I always use my wife's Grand Caravan when bikes are involved. It's very easy to roll two full-sized bikes, all rigged and ready to ride, right into the back, where they stand upright with tons of room to spare. I haven't tried three bikes yet, but I think it would work, while keeping a seat free for each rider and space left over for luggage. Mini vans have an image problem, I'm told, but they truly are the ultimate sport utility vehicle, if you define sport-utility as usefulness for sporting activities.

Thanks for the answer Godeacs about the Focus wagon. marmot, a used one would be fine since it would be my car not the primary car my wife has, the new Accord. Just something to get rid of the 4X4 I have to have for work right now. A small efficient wagon like the Focus would be nice to transport me and the bicycles around to rides. I'm going in to a semi-retirement for a few years before finally retiring so my needs are changing. Bicycling first for me.

Bill

"I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me" Philippians 4:13

"We can't control that we have Parkinson's, but we can control how we live with Parkinson's" Davis Phinney

bjaspud, no I don't work in the auto industry. You may be right in that I probably shouldn't say "most" parts, but realize I'm talking about components, not necessarily the whole vehicle. The industry is global and that bumper you are putting on a GM or other American big 3 vehicle may well have been actually made elsewhere. Just because it's assembled to be a complete car in the USA dosen't meean that a significant number of components weren't made somewhere else. What's interesting is that the Toyota Camry, for instance, often has most of it's parts(80% or so) made in the USA, yet a Ford, Chevy, or GM may have a much lower percentage, foreign or domestic, it depends on the model. Check the sticker on the new car which states what proportion of a vehicle is manufactured in the USA. Here's an interesting link to see how much of your car is actually made in the USA, be it American or foreign labled: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/MadeInAmerica/page?id=13795239

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

I'm sure some of the minivans would work very nicely as bike carriers--fold down that back seat and you may well be golden. I'm going to have to see how my bike fits in my Camry trunk with the rear seat folded down(now don't blast me for owning a Toyota).

Post #40 in this thread talks about "made in America" and percentage American content. It's worth a look.

I do work in the auto industry, and all I can say is that the parts sourcing situation is always changing and is always chasing the lowest delivered (part delivered to assembly plant) price with acceptable quality. Currently I'm in an American engineering office of a Swedish Tier 1. The company sells parts globally, and the economics of big assembly plants is such that for really huge orders, one is wanted to build a parts fab close to where the body and assembly is. If Toyota buys a Denso part to be assembled into cars at a Toyota B&A in Tennesee, and Denso builds a factory in Tennesee to supply that plant, is it an American part? Is it an American car? What if the local Denso plant is over-capacity and supplemental product is brought in from South America or Portugal? If you're going to count up "percentage American content," how do you bin all these options? And it's not like I know the answers. But the answers are not simple.

When I worked for Ford Electronics, which along with other captive concerns became Visteon, we had several Ford electronics plants in Pennsylvania, Mexico, Canada, Portugal. China was just opening up.

Are the Assembly workers taking the time to read the inscriptions on the part itself to determine where it's from? Probably not. But for each American autoworker, what he made was done in America.

Here is a photo of my bike in the back of the Transit. You can see that there is ample room for two more bikes to fit without being a tight squeeze. The back isn't finished to the point where we want it but was completed just enough to carry my bike on our Illinois trip. The bunjee chords are there temporarily and were used to hold our luggage to the folded seats during the trip. The front wheel is temporaryily securred between the bike and the outter wall by a bungee chord. I have a wheel mount on order and it should be at the LBS when we get home.